Food Safety First - The "Poisonous Bean Sprouts" Series Cases of the Market Supervision Bureau of Tongzhou District, Nantong City

Food no matter the size, safety first

——Enlightenment from the investigation and handling of the series of "poisonous bean sprouts" by the Market Supervision Bureau of Tongzhou District, Nantong City

On September 14, 2018, the former Food and Drug Administration of Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, through routine sampling and sample testing, found that the bean sprouts sold in a farmers market in Tongzhou District, Nantong City did not meet the requirements of the State Food and Drug Administration and the Ministry of Agriculture.
, National Health and Family Planning Commission Announcement No.
11 in 2015, the prohibited substance required by the standard - chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid sodium)
.

Although bean sprouts are small, as a common ingredient on the table of ordinary people, they involve a wide range of areas, and it is very likely that "hidden rules" of illegally adding banned substances have been formed in the bean sprouts manufacturing and sales industry
.
The former Nantong Food and Drug Administration and the Nantong Tongzhou District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau attached great importance to the case and quickly organized the inspection and disposal of "poisonous bean sprouts"
.
After investigation and investigation, the joint public security department investigated and dealt with the addition of toxic and harmful substances in production - chlorophenoxyacetic acid (sodium 4-chlorophenoxyacetate) (commonly known as "rootless water"), sodium hydrosulfite (commonly known as "hyposulfite") ) of the "poisonous bean sprouts" series of cases, and seized 4 dens that used "safety powder" to process poisonous bean sprouts
.
The use of "rootless water" and other prohibited substances in the processing process does not meet the requirements of the "State Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, National Health and Family Planning Commission Announcement No.
11 in 2015" - chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4 -Sodium chlorophenoxyacetate), due to its jurisdiction, it will be transferred to the relevant agricultural departments for processing; the addition of toxic and harmful substances - sodium dithionite during processing, suspected of producing and selling toxic and harmful food, transferred to the public security organs for processing; sales Unqualified bean sprouts, failing to establish an inspection record system for the purchase of edible agricultural products in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" and unable to explain its origin, according to the first paragraph of Article 123 of the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" The provisions of item (1) shall be dealt with by the market supervision department
.
In the end, 4 cases of this series were transferred to the public security organs for investigation and punishment, 7 suspects were arrested, 2 cases were transferred to the district agriculture committee for investigation and punishment, and 3 cases of unqualified bean sprouts were registered and dealt with by the market supervision department
.

Check the problems and difficulties encountered in the disposal process

The definition of the properties of bean sprouts is controversial, which brings disputes over jurisdiction
.
The former State Administration for Industry and Commerce's 2018 "National Food Safety Supervision and Sampling Implementation Rules" defines bean sprouts as stem vegetables in the sampling catalog, and the General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of China issued a letter in August 2014 (Agricultural Office Agricultural Letter (2014) 13) The bean sprouts are characterized as soy products
.
If it is defined as stem vegetables, that is, edible agricultural products, according to the relevant provisions of the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", "Agricultural Product Quality Safety Law", "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Edible Agricultural Products Market Sales" and other relevant regulations, each department shall perform its own duties according to law.
As a statutory duty, the market supervision and management department performs the management functions of edible agricultural products in the circulation field; if it is defined as soy products, it is supervised by the market supervision and management department from processing to sales
.

Difficult to obtain evidence
.
The "hyposulfite" used in the processing of "poisonous bean sprouts" is an industrial raw material "sodium hydrosulfite"
.
During the on-site inspection of the processing, it was found that most of the packaging was simple, and had no product name, factory name, or factory address, and was in the form of white powder
.
After mixing with water, it dissolves in water (produces sulfur dioxide) and becomes transparent, which is more difficult to identify, and the final inspection item is whether the residual sulfur dioxide (for bleaching) exceeds the standard
.
Therefore, how to fix the processing behavior of illegal use of prohibited substances and whether there is a correlation between the detection results of sulfur dioxide exceeding the standard directly affects the characterization of the case
.
It is difficult to obtain key evidence by administrative means alone
.
The successful cracking of the "poisonous bean sprouts" series of cases played a key role in the on-site intervention of the public security department, subsequent inquiry and investigation, and deep digging of online suppliers
.

　　Hard to recall
.
Bean sprouts are a common ingredient on the table of ordinary people.
They are fresh and easy to spoil.
After consumers buy them, they often finish eating them on the same day
.
In the process of investigation and punishment, although the operators were ordered to issue a recall notice for the unqualified bean sprouts involved in the case, there were no recalls after they were sold and eaten
.
So far, no feedback has been received on food safety incidents related to the consumption of substandard bean sprouts involved in the case
.

　　

　　Difficult to trace
.
During the investigation and handling of this series of cases, most of the operators in the processing, sales and other links were unable to provide standardized and neat book-style ticket information from the purchase of raw materials, processing, wholesale, and sales.
Wechat, oral confession and other recording materials, to a certain extent, reflect the current general situation of the difficulty of standardizing the management of edible agricultural products from the field to the table
.

　　

　　Food safety supervision has a long way to go.
We will use the strictest means to strengthen the crackdown on illegal and criminal acts of edible agricultural products such as poisonous bean sprouts with "toxic and harmful" and "excessive pesticide residues", and we must not relax at all times
.
The typical significance of the investigation and punishment of this case is that how to make ordinary people truly feel food safety must start from the "side dishes" on the dining table
.
While strengthening the supervision of edible agricultural products, it is necessary to build a more rigorous and efficient basic food safety governance system, promote the concept of food safety social co-governance, and constantly improve various long-term mechanisms to basically form a benign social interaction and rational checks and balances , Effective participation and full supervision of the food safety social co-governance pattern
.

　　

　　Improve the food supervision system and implement the main responsibility
.
Improve the daily supervision and inspection system focusing on random inspections, urge operators to strictly implement laws and industry standards, standardize production and operation activities, and increase supervision and inspections in all aspects of production, processing, storage, and circulation
.
Regularly and irregularly organize special random inspections and surprise inspections to increase the deterrent effect on operators
.
Promote the traceability mechanism of "one-ticket pass" for edible agricultural products from the field to the dining table, and urge and guide operators in all links of planting, processing, wholesale, and sales to effectively implement the legal system of requesting certificates and tickets for edible agricultural products, and purchasing inspection records
.

　　

　　Perform departmental supervision functions and consolidate the foundation of basic work
.
Highlight the monitoring of the whole process, the food supervision department, production enterprises, business units strictly control the quality, procedures, and processes to form an efficient and traceable whole-process supervision chain
.
Strengthen the supervision chain of all staff, such as departmental linkage, strict control of safety risks, crackdown on illegal acts, emergency early warning mechanism, and emergency response system
.
All regulatory departments should strengthen cooperation, move forward their functions, and form a seamless connection between all regulatory links
.
Promote the disclosure of regulatory information and guide public opinion supervision
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Relying on the government service network, accelerate the construction of a unified food safety information publicity platform
.
Food regulatory authorities shall publish information such as food safety standards, administrative licensing, supervision and sampling inspections, administrative penalties, accident disposal, typical cases, blacklists, and corporate credit in accordance with the law, and establish online consultation platforms to facilitate public inquiries and acquisitions
.
Improve the news release system, strengthen the use of new media, establish normalized information release channels, and respond to public concerns and hot issues of social concern in a timely manner
.

　　

　　Expand participation and supervision channels and carry out innovative pilot work
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Explore the establishment of food safety behavior supervisors, social supervisors, volunteers and other public service teams, formulate relevant management measures, and guide relevant personnel to actively participate in food safety supervision
.
Promote platform clients and official accounts, widely mobilize the masses to submit food safety information, unblock the channels for complaints and reports, increase the introduction of reward and protection mechanisms for reports (especially those involving industry practitioners breaking the "hidden rules" of the industry), and mobilize the forces of the whole society Participate in the construction of food safety environment
.